hi from the UK !

C

crazee horse

L1
just a quick thread to say hi, and the obvious "sorry in advance" for asking stupid newb questions ! ive joined a few beetle forums, but they seem so slow to respond , if you get any response at all. i stumbled on this place purely by accident, and have to say how nice it is to find somewhere so packed with knowledge on what seems to be quite an un-common thing to keep.

anyways i have only just started to keep Allomyrina dichotoma grubs ! i bought them (2) around a month ago, after being amazed at seeing them in the local aquaria shop, and having a blokey "i have to have them moment" ! ive always like invertibrates and the like, just never knew they were available etc and allegedly so easy to keep !

anyways i digress................................ ive been spraying my larvae substrate every couple days, and after taking them out for a little examination , i found one of them to be almost waxy in appearance, cold and quite stiff. i was very annoyed at myself thinking it was my fault somehow, so i gave it a mist with warm water and put it back...................................

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two days later this happened ! needless to say i was pleseantly surprised, i checked his chubby room mate (Jim)

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and he was standing upright almost, clearly practising his sit-ups, so i went downstairs for a couple hours and did some research on the negative effects beer can have for the rest of the evening................................. i took the above photo approximately at 5pm, when i went to bed at about 10pm for some reason i decided to check on jimmy again......................

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needless to say he had a very productive night.............................................. a week later and he is very dark. whats that ? you want another pic? ok then.

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and now his mate is looking like this ! talk about quick !

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thankyou for reading !

 
I love the second picture of the male pupae. It looks like it's glowing!
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Are those mites on the female pupae? How long has she been in that stag?

 
Yes he really did shine ! was amazing to see, I can't see any mites, and she been in that stag ? Lol I take it you mean the pupae, I'm still learning this technical talk ! I think it's about three weeks now roughly, and she has changed colour an awful lot ! I picked there two at random so it's luck I have a male and a female. Hoping I caonkeep them together .

 
Welcome!

You should learn much here. It is cool when the larvae pupates. Real nice pics.

What light source/ camera lens did you use to take those great photos?

 
The second pupa looks dead, the uneven black colour and the large number of mites strongly suggest this. The other grub has pupated but I guess your regular looking at them has destroyed his pupal cell - best thing is to basicly leave them alone.

For a busy UK beetle forum look at Bugnation.co.uk, lots of experienced beetle keepers on there.

 
Matt, I check regularly, visually, both never had pupae cells. I told the guy I'm the shop and he said it was quite bizarre. I'm very much the novice and this is a learning curve for me. The camera I'm using is a samsung galaxy s3 phone camera !

 
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Just examined the photo I took , I couldn't see it before , yes I think they are mites. Should I put my other pupae somewhere else away from them ? Thanks in advance for replies everyone.

 
If the pupa is dead, which I am pretty sure it is, take it out of the tank as it will be a food source for mites which may be a problem to your other healthy pupa.

The substrate in the tank looks a little wet, though this may be because you have just sprayed it. I would leave off the spraying / let it dry out a bit. If you have them in a plastic tub just putting the lid on should maintain the humidity levels for quite some time without the need to spray more than once a week or so at the most.

If you want to get into beetles there are a good range of species available from UK enthusiasts - have a look at the Bugnation forum and see if anyone has "easy" species like Smaragdethes or Eudicella available.

 
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Thanks matt, I've joined bugnation and have been waiting for a second moderator to confirm my registration for quite some time, despite sending emails. Are rhino beetle a tough beginner beetle then ?

 
I would have never guessed it was a phone camera, those pics are really nice.

Rhino beetles are probally the easiest to start with. Just find out the proper methods early it's pretty easy,

It's similar to gardening not too much water but not to little. As well as nutrients don't over do it.

I also like to add water to dry substrate so that I can control the humidity properly to my liking. You need barely any air holes so humidity should stay good for a while. In the picture I would say you needed more substrate, I had the same problem with pupation on the surface.

 
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crazee horse said:
Thanks matt, I've joined bugnation and have been waiting for a second moderator to confirm my registration for quite some time, despite sending emails. Are rhino beetle a tough beginner beetle then ?
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Send me a PM here with your Bugnation user name and i will give them a nudge, might speed things up.

Some beetles are harder to rear than others, though Allomyrina dichotoma is one of the easier ones. THe species i mentioned are easier to rear and have shorter generation times, so you get to see results quicker. They are also usually a fair bit cheaper than rhino beetle larvae.

 
Are you sure these aren't a xylotrupe species. It looks like they are and they also pupate on the surface. The bottom one is dead. Do not spray p[upa. You need to make a fake cell from florists oasis, once shapes it should be soaked in water and left for 24 hours in the place where you want the beelte to pupate to get the temp right.Place in a container with not many air holes and do not spray it again.

 
I have never raised Trypoxylus (Allomyrina) before but from videos I have seen they pupate vertically. I have even seen people keep them in cups or jars while pupating. The larvae doesn't have much room around it which makes me think that the cell wasn't destroyed by disturbing it unless it was disturbed very early on.

One of the biggest things I've had to learn is to not mess with things too soon because most the time you will regret it. I wouldn't move the pupae that are alive at this point. Mites likely won't mess with the live pupae. You are more likely to do damage moving them.

I'd also suggest buying some books. Also check out http://www.naturalworlds.org/scarabaeidae/manual/Scarabaeidae_breeding_1.htm

 
IMO that pupa is of the xylotrupes family. The more i look at it the more im sure. They too have the habit of pupating on the surface, I have several in this state at the moment.

I buy flourists foam, soak it in warm water and shape a cell from it using a spoon. The cell should be slightly angled (not horizontal) for the xylotrupes, and about 5cm longerr than the pupa, but only about 2 cm wider at the most. This is to give the emerged beetle some purchase with its claws so it can move as its emerging.

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Thanks johnboy, at a rough guestamate how lolong do you think he will be like that ? He's been like it probably a couple weeks. other than a birthday card and cake (lol) is there anything I should specificly be doing when he comes out ? How long before he is strong enough to eat ? Possibly jelly to begin with ? any answers greatly appreciated.

 
Well, i'm no expert, but if i were you I'd keep him in the dark as if he emerges and iots light he is likely to try and dig into the oasis and make a mess. He will spend four or five weeks as a pupa 9ithink) then once emerged he will sit around for a week or two then he will eat. I would let him rest for a week once he has emerged them put him in a container he can dig down into , put a piece of banana on top for him and he will find it. When he finds it you'll know.

Once he emerges take a close up and we can guess the species. If he is a xylo pubescns theres a good chance i might have a lady available for him...

 
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